


Penny

by rainbrain



Category: Teen Titans, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: F/M, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-24
Updated: 2012-06-24
Packaged: 2017-11-08 10:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/442159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbrain/pseuds/rainbrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post season 4/5. A trip to the market and a symbol of hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penny

**Author's Note:**

> Repost from ff.net with some editing.

You walk alongside your blue-cloaked teammate as the two of you make your way into the local Jump City Supermarket. Raven’s cranky since she hates grocery shopping, but that doesn’t matter right now ‘cause Cyborg let you, yes you, drive the T-Car without him breathing down your neck. It’s like a beautiful rite of passage for many weeks of driving the T-Car whenever Cyborg is too lazy to go to the market, you think to yourself proudly.

Raven’s going down the list and tossing things a little carelessly into the cart- bread, milk, cheese, mustard, bacon, horse radish (“Robin’s got a thing for this,” you say and the two of you shudder)- all laid out of the paper in Robin’s tiny chicken scratch, Cyborg’s large, blocky, neat letters, and Starfire’s addition of “MUSTARD” taking up half the page. There’s also the usual copious amount of sugary and salty junk food, and Raven grumbles a bit about the unhealthy eating habits of the team. You muse with a grin that even though Raven’s default emotions seem to be anger, annoyance, and more anger, she’d probably make a good mom one day.

You nearly crash the cart into another person’s cart as your animals instincts start crying out in agreement, and you’re busy telling them to shut the hell up, and Raven rolls her eyes at you as you sheepishly apologize to the person for the close call. Your thinly veiled embarrassment is most likely noted by Raven, but ignored.

The incident is forgotten as you and Raven argue briefly over getting regular Cherrios over Honey Nut Cherrios, then over what’s in Miracle Whip, then over the proper way to steer the shopping cart.

The two of you walk down some more aisles and you look into the cart and notice you haven’t gotten Raven’s tea yet. She walks off to some other aisle as you pull down her usual brand from the middle shelf, and when she comes back, she looks at you as if she were slightly surprised that you actually knew her favorite kind. You’re a little put off by this- of course you know her favorite, you are friends after all- and you notice in her hand that she has your favorite brand of tofu. A quick look at the list shows that Cyborg wrote down “tofu” on the list since you forgot to add your additions that week. 

You are then struck by a feeling that you get every now and then when all the Titans are together, just goofing and having fun, where you’re just suddenly really, really glad that Cyborg and Raven and Starfire and Robin are all your friends and that you all live together and have each other’s backs and know each other’s favorite brands of tea and tofu and can trust each other so completely, and you feel pretty dumb getting this emotional over some damn tofu, but this is probably your most favorite feeling in the world, so it’s okay. 

You realize that you’re kind of day-dreaming now so you snap back to reality, and Raven has that funny annoyed/confused look on her face that you think she’ll probably be stuck with for the rest of her life, so you just grin at her instead. She still looks confused, but at least she’s stopped looking annoyed. She nods at you slightly and the two of you make your way to the checkout line.  
You’re at the checkout line flirting with the cute cashier girl (At least she laughs at my jokes, you think to yourself triumphantly, though you probably shouldn’t be thinking of Raven while talking to other girls, you think right after), while Raven fishes money out a small wallet with a little red T sticker on it. The two of you are a couple dollars short because for reasons beyond you, horse radish is more expensive than it probably should be. You fish out the extra money need out of your pockets and pay the cashier, and the two of walk out with your grocery bags.

While loading the groceries into the trunk of the T-Car, Raven taps on your shoulder and pulls out some money from her own little purple wallet and hands it to you. You decline, saying it was no big deal, but she insists, nudging the money against your shoulder, then your chest (you notice that Raven always acts a bit more childish around you, probably some sort of weird effect you have on her cause of her powers or whatever). You keep saying no until she looks thoroughly annoyed and simply crams the money into your pocket. You sigh slightly and wonder how much it must take Raven for her to even tolerate you. You wallow in self-pity for a few seconds until you notice that Raven is holding some loose change in her open palm that she technically owes you, just staring at it. You ask her what’s up, and she snaps out of her daydream and hands you a quarter and a nickel, but keeps a shiny penny in her hand. She looks almost unsure of herself.

“Can I keep this?” she blurts out. 

You stare at her for a second, completely confused.

“Uh, sure.”

She nods once in response, and she walks past you towards the passenger’s door. You rack your brain, thinking over just what the hell happened when out of nowhere, an unpleasant memory of your friend Raven giving up right in front of you and your team, and a giant hand of light, and the sinking feeling of anger and desperation, and the penny that dropped from her hand, most likely melted by the fire that engulfed the world, pops into your head. 

It is strange for you to think of this event that almost seems centuries ago- It is not something you like to dwell on too often. You wonder at that moment how often Raven must think of it, falling into that pit of nothingness. Climbing out of that pit. You and Robin and Cy and Star and the freaking end of the world. Raven dressed in white and normal colors returning to the world and her telling you you weren’t funny- you were so relieved you could have almost died. You never said it, and you almost never think of it, but Raven gave you a lot of hope that day. All of your friends did. They all still do. And perhaps you give her hope as well, you think to yourself, almost subconsciously. 

You feel slightly shocked, but understanding washes over you, and when you look over at Raven waiting rather impatiently for you to unlock the doors, you’re overcome with that feeling you had earlier over the tofu again, except this time it’s a little different- it’s a little warmer, and it spreads from your stomach to your throat, and this time, it’s just for her.  
She looks annoyed again, but that’s okay. You unlock the doors and the two of you drive off towards home.


End file.
